|
March 16, 2000
See Rhonda's Previous
Columns
Missing Records
Q:
My grandmother, Iona Bodner, came to the United States in
1899 from Austria-Hungary. She came to work as a servant in western
Pennsylvania. My question is, could she have been processed on the ship
before she got to Ellis Island and how? -- Richard
A:
If you are wondering if your grandmother could have been on a ship that
went into port at New York and not appear on the manifest, the answer
is yes. It is possible.
There are a number of different reasons why your grandmother may not
appear on the passenger list. Often it is because the page in question
has not survived or the immigrant did not go through the port in question.
The general procedures for any ship that docked in New York, was for
the doctors to go on board and examine (in the most cursory of ways)
the first and second class passengers. However, these names were recorded
on the passenger lists. Once these passengers had been examined, they
were allowed to disembark and go on their way. The third class, or steerage,
passengers were the ones who had to go through Ellis Island.
As I mentioned, not all of the pages survived. Recently I had this
pointed out in vivid detail. A researcher had located her ancestor in
the index for the passenger lists in New York. However, when she went
to the actual passenger lists, she could not locate her ancestor on
the list. Confused, she asked questions to various online resources
about what the possibilities were, and one of those questions was eventually
forwarded to me. She had suspected that somehow the cabin class passengers
were not included on the lists. However, additional research revealed
that this was not the case.
Reverse research from the port of embarkation revealed that the ancestor
had indeed been on the boat in question. So, it seemed likely that a
page of the records had been misplaced. This may seem odd, but if you
ever use these records, you will see how it is quite possible that a
page could have been lost before the microfilming project.
If an ancestor is found in the index, then they were on the passenger
list at the time the indexing was taking place (the 1930s). If they
are not on the index, then you need to reexamine the information known.
In addition to having been overlooked during indexing, you have to accept
the possibility that your ancestor came through a different port. Since
your grandmother was a servant in Pennsylvania, you will also want to
look at the Philadelphia and Baltimore passenger lists as well.
Looking Up Ship's Records
Q:
I have the date that my great grandfather landed in the Port of New
York. He left Scotland 30 Apr 1903 and arrived 13 May 1903. I got this
information from his naturalization records. How do I find the ship?
And when I do find the ship, how do I find the ship's records? -- Catherine
A:
It sounds like you may not have all of the naturalization records. Usually
the application for the declaration of intent, where the individual is
declaring their intent to become a naturalized citizen, will include not
only the date of arrival and the port, but also the name of the ship.
However, it is possible that your ancestor did not remember this when
supplying the information for these papers.
The good news is that for the year that your great grandfather immigrated,
the passenger lists for New York have been indexed. You can access these
microfilmed indexes through your local Family History Center. Family
History Centers are branches of the main Family History Library in Salt
Lake City. The Family History Library has over 2 million reels of microfilm,
many of which have more than one document type on them.
You can find these records listed in the Family History Library Catalog
under NEW YORK, NEW YORK, NEW YORK - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION. You
will know when you get to the entry that deals with the records for
1903 because it is one of the larger entries, comprised of many microfilms.
You will find both the index and the actual passenger lists included
in the entry.
Even if the passenger lists were not indexed, as is the case of the
New York port for the years 1847 through 1896, the information you had
from the naturalization records would have narrowed you down to probably
a single reel of microfilm. You could have then skimmed the ships, ignoring
those that did not come from the British Isles.
Teenagers and Genealogy
Q:
We are going to Utah in May with the kids to do some genealogy research.
Where do we begin? We are doing my side of the family first. We homeschool
our two teenagers and they are wanting to know their family history
and roots. -- Steffield
A:
The first thing that you will want to do is to begin by talking to the
living relatives, especially the older ones. These are the people who
will hold the clues to your ancestors.
If you are unsure of what to ask and the information you should be
hoping to find, there are some online lessons that will be of help to
you in understanding this.
- Genealogy Classes
offers six lessons geared toward beginning genealogists. They also
have some lessons for researching your immigrant ancestor and for
using computers in your research.
- RootsWeb's Guide to
Tracing Family Trees looks at getting started and the record types
you will eventually be using.
- How-To Articles
- offer many different subjects, written by those who are knowledgeable
with those record types and those areas of research that are covered.
Since you will be visiting the library in Salt Lake City, once you
have begun to get some names, dates and places (and counties are very
important for those places), then you will want to see what might be
available at the Family History Library. To see what they have available,
you will want to begin working with the Family History Library Catalog
(which is available on CD-ROM at all local Family History Centers).
Part of it is also online through the FamilySearch.org
web site, though this is not complete yet.
Family History Centers are staffed by volunteers. They can be found
in many local LDS (Mormon) chapels, but are open to anyone interested
in researching their family tree. You can generally find them listed
in your local phone book in the yellow pages. You will want to search
the catalog to see what records are available for the localities and
time periods you and your children will be researching. Either print
them out or write down the pertinent information (this would be the
title of the record, the dates covered, and the call number).
Migration to Russia
Q:
I'm researching the place where my great great grandfather, Martin R.
RITTEL, came from. He migrated to Bergdorf, Odessa, Russia some time
during the early to mid 1800s. The only other clue I have is that he
may have come from the State of Wuerttemburg, Germany. -- Allen
A:
You have some very good clues to your research. Your great great grandfather,
Martin R. RITTEL, appears to belong to the group known as "Germans
from Russia." Your ancestor's settling in Bergdorf, puts him in
a known Germans from Russia colony.
Germans first migrated to Russia in 1763. Catherine II, Empress of
Russia found herself with a lot of land and no one to populate it. She
issued a manifesto that invited immigrants to settle there. Her invitation
included a number of inducements in the way of rights and privileges
these settlers would be entitled to.
There are a number of great web sites that will be of use to you. The
one that I think you will find most interesting is actually not a site,
but a mailing list, the GCRA:Gl¸ckstal
Colonies Research Association Electronic Discussion Group. You will
find that Bergdorf is one of these colonies.
Some additional sites you will want to investigate include:
Rhonda R. McClure is a professional genealogist specializing in celebrity trees
and computerized genealogy. She has been involved in online genealogy for fifteen
years. She is the author of the award-winning The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy, now in its second edition.
She is the author of four how-to guides on Family
Tree Maker. In late 2001, she wrote The
Genealogist's Computer Companion. She is a contributing editor to Biography
Magazine with her "Celebrity Roots" column and a contributing writer
to The History Channel Magazine. Her latest book is Finding
Your Famous and Infamous Ancestors. She may be contacted at rhondagen@thegenealogist.com.
Back to Top of Article
|
